The Final Terror (1983)

Taglines: Can anyone survive?

This terrifying movie takes place out in the backwoods where a group of rangers go camping. But when one of the group snaps, and leaves one by one some of the group disappears. It is left up to the rest of the group to defend themselves against this evil. With the killer disguised as the forest surroundings, one of their group held hostage, and a terrifying attack on their tour bus leaving it incapable of travel and one of them with a major injury they have to turn the tables on the killer.

The Final Terror (also known as Carnivore, and internationally Campsite Massacre) is a 1983 American horror film directed by Andrew Davis, and starring Rachel Ward, Daryl Hannah, Adrian Zmed, and Joe Pantoliano. The film originally went through many working titles as The Creeper, Three Blind Mice, and The Forest Primeval, but during production it was filmed under the title Bump in the Night before ultimately choosing the title as The Final Terror.

The plot follows a group of forest rangers camping in the Northern California wilderness who find themselves fighting for their lives against a backwoods feral killer hunting them as prey. It blends elements of survival thrillers and slasher films.

The film was shot on location in 1981 in the Redwood forests, and was not released for two years due to the production searching for a distributor. It was eventually released in 1983 to capitalize on the rising fame of its young stars (namely Ward, Hannah, and Zmed), and co-stars Pantoliano in his early roles. In recent years, the film has developed a small following.

About the Story

A young couple named Jim and Lori loses control of their motorbike while riding in a forest. With Jim hurt, Lori find no help and return, only to find Jim dead hanging from a tree before she is killed by a trap full of sharp objects. Weeks later, a group of campers consisted of Dennis, Margaret, Wendy, Marco, Nathaniel, Boone, Eggar, Vanessa, Mike, and Melanie, arrive at the forest. The group makes a clearing and spend the night around a bonfire telling a story; a young woman was raped and became insane enough to flee into the forest.

The next morning, the group discover the next morning that Marco and Eggar missing. While the others search for them, Mike takes a swim with Melanie and later have sex, during which Mike is stabbed to death by an camouflaged killer and kidnaps Melanie. Nathaniel and Dennis find an abandoned cabin containing an old grave. Dennis enters the cabin and Nathaniel hears him scream, only for it to be a prank by Dennis trying to scare him. While searching the cabin for food and items, they find a severed wolf’s head in a cabinet and are shaken before returning to the camp.

That night, the killer appears near Margaret in her sleep and she hysterically tells the others what she saw. The campers also find Marco, who has returned to the camp. After Vanessa gets angry at the men for scaring the girls, she walks off alone to the outhouse; she screams when Mike’s severed head falls onto her, and the group comes to her aid. The group spends one more night at the camp, and they find no successful search for Melanie who they assumed was still with Mike. In the morning, they go to the cabin to find the killer, unbeknownst is down in the basement with a captured Melanie, and they flee with the rafts after finding a human hand jar.

While rafting along the river, the body of Melanie is tossed onto the boat by the killer and causes panic among the group. Burying Melanie near the river, the group continues on to the end of the river and find their empty, broken-down bus. They spend the night there, but the killer attacks and gets inside the bus before the group escapes out the back door. Wendy gets separated and is slashed by the creature, where the group comes to her and gives her first aid.